Children from the local infant school were the first of the new visitors to the centre. | Elena Ballestero

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The visitors' centre at the La Gola park in Puerto Pollensa has been a problem ever since it was opened in 2010. The original agreement for the park, which involved division of responsibilities between the town hall and the environment ministry, did not run smoothly, and the ministry, via its foundation for sustainable development, failed to meet one part of its side of the bargain, which was to keep the centre open all year round. This didn't happen during the three years when it was open periodically.

The renewed arrangement gives the town hall the responsibility for the centre and it has ceded it to the Natura Parc foundation (based in Santa Eugenia) for a period of four years. It re-opened yesterday and will now remain open all year with the exception of December and January. The opening hours for now are 9am to 1pm and 3pm to 5pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, but these will be increased in the main birdwatching months of April and May and September and October.

In the park itself, an intention is to stop lighting it at nighttime in a hope that this will stop it being used for, among other things, botellón drinking parties.